Serial rapist: five women violated by man targeting job seekers

PIETERMARITZBURG women should beware — a serial rapist is on the loose.

Already five women aged between 25 and 43 are confirmed to have been attacked between February and April.

All the attacks, police said, took place midweek and before midday.

In a dramatic twist, it has been revealed that he evaded police by a hair’s breadth in one instance.

One victim described to Weekend Witness how, as the man stood near her after the rape attack, he heard people approaching along the path.

He fled immediately and when the people arrived at the scene, she realised it was police, who had come to the spot with another victim he had raped near there previously.

Police spokesperson Joey Jeevan said the two crime scenes were close to one another.

His modus operandi is that he lures the women to the Bisley/Richmond Road area with the promise of a job. He then takes them to a secluded spot and threatens them with a knife or a firearm and rapes them.

The victim described her attacker’s narrow escape from police.

“I was just sitting there after he had done what he did and I was fearful of moving because he told me that there were dogs all around the area,” said the young woman, who cannot be identified due to the nature of the crime.

“We heard noises and he suggested we run together. I did not because I heard the sounds were people, and he ran. It turned out that it was the police who were coming with another rape victim to point out the spot where she had been raped.

“I learnt then that the woman had also been assaulted in the same area. There were at least four other women that have been attacked in a similar fashion,” she added.

The woman said she met the suspect at her place of employment some time ago.

“I had my CV with me and [after seeing I was holding it], he asked what [job] I was looking for and I told him that I was just putting them out in hopes of finding something.”

She said the suspect took one of her CVs.

“He later called to tell me that he had found a job for me as a helper.

“He came to meet me and we left together and got into a taxi. At the Richmond Road crossroads we got out of the taxi and walked onto the small pathway there and that was where he attacked me.”

The woman said that, while she was fearful, she took solace in the knowledge that the suspect did not know where she lived.

“I trusted him because he looks like a decent guy, who was well dressed. He carried a bag like someone who was going to work.”

Jeevan confirmed the attacks and urged women to be very careful and be aware of this modus operandi. “If you must go to check that opportunity, do not go alone, you should at least take someone with you.”

She said those with information are requested to contact the commander of the FCS ( Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit) Lieutenant-Colonel Wondra Bezuidenhout on 079 500 0390 or Sergeant Xolani Mthiyane on 084 441 1575 or 033 387 9517.

• thamsanqam@witness.co.za, gabisile.ngcobo@witness.co.za

CAPE Town psychologist Dr Rosa Bredekamp, who has a specialist interest in forensic psychology, said that for these women to have trusted a total stranger to this degree in the hopes he would give them employment they must have been desperate and in a dire financial situation.

Bredekamp said usually men who are able to lure women are charismatic, convincing, good-looking, nicely dressed and very expressive.

She added that usually serial rapists come from troubled homes.

“When you trace his track record you’ll find that he may have had a poor relationship with one of his parents,” she added.

She said the behaviour of sexual assault is usually triggered by a childhood experience.

“The best advice is not to trust anybody and if someone offers you a job and you have to go and meet him somewhere, take someone with you,” Bredekamp advised.

The suspected serial rapist, described by his victims, is a black man in his thirties.

He is short and stocky and is dark in complexion.

He has decayed bottom front teeth.

• The first victim, aged 42, was raped on February 15, near the railway line off Andries Pretorius Road, Bisley.

• The second victim, aged 25, was attacked on March 21 near the Bisley railway line.

• The third victim, aged 43, was attacked on March 28 near the Bisley railway line.

• The fourth victim, aged 29, was attacked on Tuesday this week near the Bisley Nature Reserve.

• The fifth victim, aged 28, was attacked on Wednesday near the railway line off Trelawney Road.

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